SHAFAQNA – Favourable opinions of Muslims increased by 22 points following the Jan. 29, 2017 massacre at the Quebec City mosque that killed six, according to a poll by Léger for the Association for Canadian Studies (ACS) shows.

Only 28 per cent of Quebecers viewed Muslims positively in March 2016. But a year later, following the massacre, half of Quebecers said they had a positive opinion of Muslims.

The wave of sympathy after the attack caused a major shift in public opinion, said Jack Jedwab, president of the ACS.

“It clearly made a lot of people who hold negative views on Muslims rethink their views,” he noted.

But some of the empathy toward Muslims faded during the year, as political debates over issues like restricting the niqab (Muslim face veil) resumed, the polling shows.

By November, the number of those with positive views of Muslims had dropped back eight points to 42 per cent.

While positive views of Muslims rose after the massacre and then fell again slightly, negative views dropped slightly and then rose. Sixty-one per cent of Quebecers viewed Muslims negatively a year before the attack. The number dropped to 42 per cent in March 2017 and rose to 48 per cent by November.